How men perceived women in the Middle Ages and Renaissance - Essay Example

Women from time immemorial experienced several social issues such as sexism as well as physical and emotional abuse. They have been perceived and treated differently by different people of different ages and race. With the continuing arguments about women even in this modern age, it would be beneficial to consider how different great minds have thought about them. It is an interest in this paper to dissect the human form of the woman in comparison to that of a man if they have been created only to identify one from the other, how are good women perceived, the roles they play in the society and what kind would they be on an extreme.

With such discussions, it is the purpose of this paper to enlighten readers and let them understand more the qualities women hold. An interesting presentation of arguments about the creation of the woman is evident in “The Production of the Woman” where it is suggested that the woman should have not been produced for reasons such as “the female is a misbegotten male”, the woman is of less strength and dignity than man, causing sin and therefore, inequality and because God foresaw that the woman would cause the man to sin (Aquinas).

Nevertheless, the author argues on the point of view of the Bible from Genesis 3:16 that man should not be alone but should have a partner comparable to him. As a priest of the Roman Catholic Church, Aquinas might have been compelled to base his arguments from the Holy Book and thus quotes from the Word of God that there was a necessity for the creation of the woman. Furthermore, he goes on to explain how women should be treated by their husbands; that they were not made to become helpmates in the accomplishment of tasks but helpers in the sense that they were to produce children together as partners.

With regard the woman being called ‘misbegotten’, the author suggests that the intention of nature depends on God. As for inequality, the circumstance is claimed to have already existed even before sin was born. God knew that Eve will sin but still created her because if ‘God deprived the world of those things (Eve included) which proved an occasion of sin, the universe would have been imperfect” (Aquinas). The author believes that with God being omnipotent, He can direct any evil to a good end.

On the second argument, Aquinas refutes that the woman was correctly created out of the rib of the man for the dignity of the man himself. In addition, this will make him cleave even more to the woman and as a consequence, the woman would acknowledge that the man is the head of the woman. Figuratively speaking, the situation speaks about the church and Jesus Christ; that as the woman was taken from the man, the church is also taken from Christ. About kinship, Eve may have been taken from Adam but she was not born from him so that the man did not marry his daughter.

Continuing on the third discourse, Aquinas discusses that indeed, on a natural manner, a bigger thing cannot be made from a smaller thing. However, the creation of Eve from the rib of Adam is similar to the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand people from the five loaves of bread. Just as the five loaves have been increased, the small rib of Adam had been increased to create the size of Eve. Aquinas showed that the removal of the rib of Adam did not make him imperfect by putting it in